First aide kit, never die easy.

[whiteworks]

Figured I’d throw out a little PSA, yesterday morning we lost a 43 year old family member to a heart attack, pow gone. I believe he was dead before he hit the ground, widow maker type deal.

Anyways I figured I’d take a moment to bring up a topic here that everyone is susceptible to, having a proper first aide kit onboard the boats, offroad cars, tow vehicles, and a little know how to use them. I’m not one to speak softly, my friends are old, fat, out of shape and trying daily to kill themselves, booze, coke, unprotected sex, fast cars, fast boats, driving while not wearing a Rona mask by themselves, all the high risk behaviors

I’ve taken the approach to not be someone who’s easy to die around. We held a family wide first aide training last year. Had a trauma nurse come out and do a first aide, stop the bleed, CPR training at my cousins house, 15 people got certs or renewed them that day. It had been over a decade since my last cert and things have changed. As well as learning some things, it became evident I was not as prepared as I should be while in remote locations with extended response times for medical response.

Tourniquets and several of them are now onboard all vehicles, and fist aide kits. They are $15.00 on amazon, send your wife a link and pick up a few, I carry extra and now hand them out to people we meet along the trail, everyone likes it when you give them tools that promote them living longer

I’m also now carrying a defibrillator, like I said my friends are fucked, so yes I roll to the party with an AED. I’ve talked with my first responder pals, given the option of having one out in BFE when a heart is stopped vs. not having one on hand, all have opted for the getting the zap. I picked up a used unit for $500. Well worth the cost of one of my buddies lives.

Last thing that I’m gonna bring up is something the trauma nurse told us she teaches down in Baja. When building out kits for the locals, she includes a bag of cayanne pepper. This is a coagulate and dumped on a gusher with lots of rags can help stop the bleed. Cheap and easy to have around vs. the little impregnated clotting wad$.

Average first responder time is like 7 minutes in metropolitan areas if things go well. We are constantly in places where 30 minute response would be amazing on a good day and several hours is more then possible while out and about. Look the chances of being successful doing chest compressions on your pal out in the desert for hours is not good, but I’ll be damned if I’m just gonna stand there and watch them die.

Stop the bleed, keep them breathing.

What’s in your first aide kit?

 

[t&y]

Hey buddy, I'm not trying to rain on your parade because I agree with just about all of what you said. But there is one thing you do not skimp on and that is a Tourniquet. The ones you have advertised are known to fail... and when I mean fail I mean break in the moment when you really need them to work by means of the buckle breaking or the windless snapping.

I too agree every one of us should have the basics. Do yourself a favor here and save those cheap ones for training only. Buy either a legit C.A.T. or more preferably a Soft T Wide.

CAT Combat Application Tourniquet - GEN7 Black

The Cat Combat Application Tourniquet Gen7 Black is a true 1 1/2 constricting band for increased constricting pressure & patient comfort. NSN# 6515-01-521-7976

liveactionsafety.com

SOF Wide Tactical Tourniquet - Tan

High strength hook and buckle interface was designed for security, strength and ease of application with SOF Wide Tactical Tourniqet. Re-route easier to use.

liveactionsafety.com

 

[whiteworks]

Hey buddy, I'm not trying to rain on your parade because I agree with just about all of what you said. But there is one thing you do not skimp on and that is a Tourniquet. The ones you have advertised are known to fail... and when I mean fail I mean break in the moment when you really need them to work by means of the buckle breaking or the windless snapping.

I too agree every one of us should have the basics. Do yourself a favor here and save those cheap ones for training only. Buy either a legit C.A.T. or more preferably a Soft T Wide.

CAT Combat Application Tourniquet - GEN7 Black

The Cat Combat Application Tourniquet Gen7 Black is a true 1 1/2 constricting band for increased constricting pressure & patient comfort. NSN# 6515-01-521-7976

liveactionsafety.com

SOF Wide Tactical Tourniquet - Tan

High strength hook and buckle interface was designed for security, strength and ease of application with SOF Wide Tactical Tourniqet. Re-route easier to use.

liveactionsafety.com

Good to know

 

[ArizonaKevin]

Hey buddy, I'm not trying to rain on your parade because I agree with just about all of what you said. But there is one thing you do not skimp on and that is a Tourniquet. The ones you have advertised are known to fail... and when I mean fail I mean break in the moment when you really need them to work by means of the buckle breaking or the windless snapping.

I too agree every one of us should have the basics. Do yourself a favor here and save those cheap ones for training only. Buy either a legit C.A.T. or more preferably a Soft T Wide.

CAT Combat Application Tourniquet - GEN7 Black

The Cat Combat Application Tourniquet Gen7 Black is a true 1 1/2 constricting band for increased constricting pressure & patient comfort. NSN# 6515-01-521-7976

liveactionsafety.com

SOF Wide Tactical Tourniquet - Tan

High strength hook and buckle interface was designed for security, strength and ease of application with SOF Wide Tactical Tourniqet. Re-route easier to use.

liveactionsafety.com

Seconded, at the last med class I took someone had some of the above and the instructor made an example of it and broke the windlass while tightening it. Instructor replaced it with a cat7.

 

[Havasu blue label]

Very good info thanks

 

[$hot]

Cat for the win, sof is junk for self application

 

[t&y]

This is something I have pushed hard for amongst my partners. We conduct regular training incorporating these things into most of our drills. I am not an EMT or Paramedic. Just someone who knows the value of training and hangs out with medical nerds on the occassion.

Below is a basic Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK) I carry in my gym bag. The camper, boat (when I had one), offroad toys, and most of my vehicles have very similar set ups in them. The kits I own vary from about 100 bucks a pop to close to two hundred depending on what I have in them. Most expensive in this kit is the CELOX bandage (around 50 bucks) followed by either the Soft T Wide or CAT tourniquets (Usually between 23-30 bucks a piece).

The inside once it's opened

One of the things the wars in Iraq have taught us all is that if you can control the bleed, the injured/patient has a much higher rate of survival. I carry multiple tourniquets in each IFAK. The kits I generally carry and based on stabilization and bleed control. If we get back into traveling I will add and A.E.D.

This is what you are seeing in the pics below:
C.A.T tourniquet
Soft T Wide Tourniquet (Most preferred for many reasons)
S.W.A.T. (Stretch Wrap And Tuck) Tourniquet
CELOX Rapid Gauze (This is for wound packing and coagulating of a massive hemorrhage)
Chest Seal (in that packet labeled Hyfin" there are two commercially made seals, plus with tape you can use the actual wrapping... non porous plastic)
Pressure Bandage
Nasal Tube (Laymans terms, you inset it in the nostril, and it goes into the throat/airway for tube insertions.)
Thermo Blanket (think aluminum foil)
Basic Gauze
White medical tape
Small roll of duct tape
GLOVES....

In the background... Compression ankle high socks from costco... totally bad ass, they feel good, and chicks dig them! Or so I'm told...

Back to another very important point. If you are dealing with a traumatic incident whether you suffered injury or someone else, you may start to experience sensory overload or the onset of Shock. You want to pre-stage the harder to open or potentially slippery packaging. It is simple. All I did was put a little duct tape on the tear off portion of the packaging, both sides, so it is just an easy grip and rip type set up.

I've purchased thousands of dollars of product through these two vendors:

All Products | North American Rescue

Shop North American Rescue's quality tactical medical supplies and aid kits for members of the military, law enforcement, EMS and first responders.

www.narescue.com

Your Online Tactical Store | Tactical Pants and Gear | LAPG

Welcome to LA Police Gear, your online tactical store for all your Tactical Gear needs. We have police equipment, tactical gear, and more for everyone, so shop today!

lapolicegear.com

 

[t&y]

Cat for the win, sof is junk for self application

Try wrapping that CAT around your leg, then run carrying your partner and still handling business... the CAT is definitely far easier to apply, but the velcro has many fail points. and you cannot secure the tail on the average size adult leg.

Now if you are talking about just plain and simple injured, not going to do anything but sit there until transport arrives or until they get to the hospital, then the CAT is fine.
The new generations of Soft T Wide are made of much better material and apply very easy single handed. Like anything in life, it takes a bit of practice. But once you set the Soft T Wide, you can move, yank on the tail, do pretty much anything you can handle and it is not going to fail unless you put it on wrong in the first place (whole other subject).

Either one you use, you need to check frequently and anytime you have moved and stopped to rest.

 

[t&y]

Seconded, at the last med class I took someone had some of the above and the instructor made an example of it and broke the windlass while tightening it. Instructor replaced it with a cat7.

We break the cats frequently, even some of the legit ones. Those little C Clip ears don't like abuse...lol... The soft t is not fool proof, but much better for my application without question.

 

[$hot]

Try wrapping that CAT around your leg, then run carrying your partner and still handling business... the CAT is definitely far easier to apply, but the velcro has many fail points. and you cannot secure the tail on the average size adult leg.

Now if you are talking about just plain and simple injured, not going to do anything but sit there until transport arrives or until they get to the hospital, then the CAT is fine.
The new generations of Soft T Wide are made of much better material and apply very easy single handed. Like anything in life, it takes a bit of practice. But once you set the Soft T Wide, you can move, yank on the tail, do pretty much anything you can handle and it is not going to fail unless you put it on wrong in the first place (whole other subject).

Either one you use, you need to check frequently and anytime you have moved and stopped to rest.

All tourniquets are one time use only, that’s why you have training specific ones. You shouldn’t be carrying used ones for deployment. CAT is easily applied if you know how to preload them. Soft t are great for applying on someone else, but not on yourself.
while we are on the subject of tourniquets, swat tourniquets are garbage for anything other than K9 and an improvised pressure dressing.
Also, look at the Texas DPS shooting. The officer is shot in the arm, with minimal blood loss has already lost fine motor function and never completed application of the tourniquet.

This is why sof t added c clips to their latest generation of tourniquets. The tri ring was almost impossible to secure for the self applicant and would just come undone. While approved for carry by tccc guidelines the CAT is the preferred product in all applications based on real world experiences

 

[ArizonaKevin]

New sof t with the easier retention clip (looks rather similar to the cat design)

I am taking a refresher dark angel medical class this fall and will try one out there and it may make it into my carry rotation, they can pack so much smaller than the CAT.

TacMed Solutions SOF Tourniquet Black

The TacMed Solutions SOF Tourniquet Trainer sets the benchmark for prehospital tourniquets. Purposeful upgrades allow for smoother and faster one-handed...

ads.midwayusa.com

 

[Joe mama]

If we all followed this info we could save many lives including our close family members. Thanks Dylan
I always fall for these old threads. Lol
But good to remember theses ones

 

[Hondo-407]

Being this thread started with losing someone to a heart attack.

For the love of God can one of you guys please mention aspirin?

Non coated is the best, chewed into a liquid. 25 cents worth of Aspirin can save a life.

 

[sintax]

@whiteworks sorry to hear about your loss man, that’s terrible.

 

[t&y]

All tourniquets are one time use only, that’s why you have training specific ones. You shouldn’t be carrying used ones for deployment. CAT is easily applied if you know how to preload them. Soft t are great for applying on someone else, but not on yourself.
while we are on the subject of tourniquets, swat tourniquets are garbage for anything other than K9 and an improvised pressure dressing.
Also, look at the Texas DPS shooting. The officer is shot in the arm, with minimal blood loss has already lost fine motor function and never completed application of the tourniquet.

This is why sof t added c clips to their latest generation of tourniquets. The tri ring was almost impossible to secure for the self applicant and would just come undone. While approved for carry by tccc guidelines the CAT is the preferred product in all applications based on real world experiences

Lol... The newly added Soft T Wide C clips break all the time too. Yes, the manufacturer suggests a one time use of a tourniquet, that's fine, but the reality is you can stop the bleed and they function perfectly fine with multiple uses on them.

It is a matter of training. It really doesn't take much to apply a Soft T Wide to an arm, one handed, and get the windless in the Triangle lock. If you don't know how to use them, or practiced once then moved on I completely understand how the simplicity of the CAT is preferred. Like I said, go ahead and apply that CAT to a standard size human leg and secure the tail. Then pick up your partner, run and gun a bit, and see how it holds up. Try the same thing with a Soft T Wide. The difference will be extremely obvious. But both can still work.

We train the SWAT tourniquets for small frame applications. Go ahead and take a child and apply a CAT or Soft T to their arm. Again, you will see why we train with the SWATS as well.

It all really boils down to what is your intended use, and from what perspective. If it's from the EMT Paramedic standpoint, I get it. You aren't training to use and stay in the incident.

 

[t&y]

New sof t with the easier retention clip (looks rather similar to the cat design)

I am taking a refresher dark angel medical class this fall and will try one out there and it may make it into my carry rotation, they can pack so much smaller than the CAT.

TacMed Solutions SOF Tourniquet Black

The TacMed Solutions SOF Tourniquet Trainer sets the benchmark for prehospital tourniquets. Purposeful upgrades allow for smoother and faster one-handed...

ads.midwayusa.com

Only similarity is the C Clips, which we have broken several right out of the packaging. Until they make them billet they will continue to be garbage.

There is a reason they are called "Tourniquet Retention Assistance Clip". Even they know the clips are not reliable

 

[DLC]

@whiteworks

Thank you for the Thread! This is something we seem to over look and Or take for granted that nothing will happen…. We have a lot of leaders as inmates and I hope some of us take this seriously ! I know I haven’t taken a 1st aid class in 25 + years. That’s going to change !

I do have & also carry kits. But don’t really know how to use em.

Sorry to hear about your family’s loss.

 

[HBCraig]

View attachment 1139588 Figured I’d throw out a little PSA, yesterday morning we lost a 43 year old family member to a heart attack, pow gone. I believe he was dead before he hit the ground, widow maker type deal.

Anyways I figured I’d take a moment to bring up a topic here that everyone is susceptible to, having a proper first aide kit onboard the boats, offroad cars, tow vehicles, and a little know how to use them. I’m not one to speak softly, my friends are old, fat, out of shape and trying daily to kill themselves, booze, coke, unprotected sex, fast cars, fast boats, driving while not wearing a Rona mask by themselves, all the high risk behaviors

I’ve taken the approach to not be someone who’s easy to die around. We held a family wide first aide training last year. Had a trauma nurse come out and do a first aide, stop the bleed, CPR training at my cousins house, 15 people got certs or renewed them that day. It had been over a decade since my last cert and things have changed. As well as learning some things, it became evident I was not as prepared as I should be while in remote locations with extended response times for medical response.

Tourniquets and several of them are now onboard all vehicles, and fist aide kits. They are $15.00 on amazon, send your wife a link and pick up a few, I carry extra and now hand them out to people we meet along the trail, everyone likes it when you give them tools that promote them living longer

I’m also now carrying a defibrillator, like I said my friends are fucked, so yes I roll to the party with an AED. I’ve talked with my first responder pals, given the option of having one out in BFE when a heart is stopped vs. not having one on hand, all have opted for the getting the zap. I picked up a used unit for $500. Well worth the cost of one of my buddies lives.

Last thing that I’m gonna bring up is something the trauma nurse told us she teaches down in Baja. When building out kits for the locals, she includes a bag of cayanne pepper. This is a coagulate and dumped on a gusher with lots of rags can help stop the bleed. Cheap and easy to have around vs. the little impregnated clotting wad$.

Average first responder time is like 7 minutes in metropolitan areas if things go well. We are constantly in places where 30 minute response would be amazing on a good day and several hours is more then possible while out and about. Look the chances of being successful doing chest compressions on your pal out in the desert for hours is not good, but I’ll be damned if I’m just gonna stand there and watch them die.

Stop the bleed, keep them breathing.

What’s in your first aide kit?

Sorry about your loss. That very young

 

[hman442]

https://www.amp-3.net/ No connections with this company. His shop is next to my wife's Salon in Sisters, Oregon. I saw the logo on his door a while back and looked it up. The kits look good, not cheap, but, if they aren't cheap, that's good, right ? It's true, most of the kits we all carry, have bandaids, tape, gauze, a space blanket and those little scissors, no help if a limb is half torn off, or a gunshot wound. I'm looking into these, as stated earlier, they could save a life. The difibulator idea is a good one too!

 

[ArizonaKevin]

https://www.amp-3.net/ No connections with this company. His shop is next to my wife's Salon in Sisters, Oregon. I saw the logo on his door a while back and looked it up. The kits look good, not cheap, but, if they aren't cheap, that's good, right ? It's true, most of the kits we all carry, have bandaids, tape, gauze, a space blanket and those little scissors, no help if a limb is half torn off, or a gunshot wound. I'm looking into these, as stated earlier, they could save a life. The difibulator idea is a good one too!

In this world, the quality/capability of the kit you buy is very much dependent on the level of training that you have.

 

[kurtis500]

43 y/o male with a widowmaker??? Any other info?

31+ years ago when i first took my EMT there was NO WAY they would allow tourniquits. After some lessons learned in Afghanistan and Iraq they started pushing them in pre-hospital. Now its standard..

When was the last time someone used Brochosol in the field? Anyone know?

 

[t&y]

Never even heard of Brochosol. What did you guys use it for back in the day?

 

[Xtrmwakeboarder]

Hey buddy, I'm not trying to rain on your parade because I agree with just about all of what you said. But there is one thing you do not skimp on and that is a Tourniquet. The ones you have advertised are known to fail... and when I mean fail I mean break in the moment when you really need them to work by means of the buckle breaking or the windless snapping.

I too agree every one of us should have the basics. Do yourself a favor here and save those cheap ones for training only. Buy either a legit C.A.T. or more preferably a Soft T Wide.

CAT Combat Application Tourniquet - GEN7 Black

The Cat Combat Application Tourniquet Gen7 Black is a true 1 1/2 constricting band for increased constricting pressure & patient comfort. NSN# 6515-01-521-7976

liveactionsafety.com

SOF Wide Tactical Tourniquet - Tan

High strength hook and buckle interface was designed for security, strength and ease of application with SOF Wide Tactical Tourniqet. Re-route easier to use.

liveactionsafety.com

Was going to say the same thing. Get the real deal.

This is usually with me with the advanced load out and a TQ from North American Rescue.

Micro Trauma Kit NOW! - Plus+

The Micro Trauma Kit NOW! - PLUS+ is 30% larger than the original BFG micro medic kit (MTKN). This medical pouch is for those users who want the design of the MTKN but need to carry a full-size pressure dressing and chest seal. Available with a MOLLE med kit mount that adapts to plate carriers...

www.blueforcegear.com

 

[Backlash]

And if you do carry a tourniquet, make sure you can access it with either hand. Seen lots of guys put it in a place that's accessible by hand and not the other.


Whiteworks I'm sorry about your loss.

 

[wzuber]

Scissors? Did I miss the scissors? How do you access & assess an injury of a clothed person w/out scissors or at least a knife?
(Hiking, biking, offroading in the colder seasons/environments)

 

[whiteworks]

Scissors? Did I miss the scissors? How do you access & assess an injury of a clothed person w/out scissors or at least a knife?
(Hiking, biking, offroading in the colder seasons/environments)

All adult men should carry a knife, if for no other reason than to cut the man buns off the ones that don’t.